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Underage drinking


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Guest dabuoyfaedanort

I'm just flabbergasted at dis story we da peerie boy o' 10 gettin foo an hae'in ta go tae GBH. Whit is this plice comin ta' when folk buy 10 year awlds drink? I mind when I wis underage I got drink bout fir me, but only when I wis at da very least 15+. I just hoop Whaever bout this 10 year awld drink is caught and locked up.

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I feel that the problem is the prevailing attitude to drink in Shetland. If it's OK to be agressive or ill or passed out due to drink at age 20, then why not 15, or 10 or 5? If most adults give a nod and a wink to adult alchohol abuse then of course youngsters will follow suit. We can surely find more meaningful or exciting ways to spend our leisure time than getting pissed! Surely we Shetlanders have more imagination than that?

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Drinking in Shetland is a bit of the culture. Its ingrained into us. I mind going south for uni and the people could not belive how much the Shetlanders drunk, same when they came up here. Orkney and the Western Isles are the same so must be somthing to do with island communities.

 

I personally see nothing wrong with the drinking culture as long as it does not get ahold of anyone that they become alchoholics and they dont break the law. I enjoy going out every weekend and haveing a drink. Most Shetlanders are only ever out then, the pubs are empty most of the week, so i guess we are all binge drinkers.

 

But most folk seem to start drinking around 15, me and most of my peers did and it did us no harm. Think any younger though is not right though as you should not be interested in drinking at that age, as you should not be interested in a lot of other things.

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I feel that the problem is the prevailing attitude to drink in Shetland. If it's OK to be agressive or ill or passed out due to drink at age 20, then why not 15, or 10 or 5? If most adults give a nod and a wink to adult alchohol abuse then of course youngsters will follow suit. We can surely find more meaningful or exciting ways to spend our leisure time than getting pissed! Surely we Shetlanders have more imagination than that?

 

Great point Mag.

 

I think as a society now we almost applaud the idea of somebody getting out of their faces drunk. It used to be a bad thing to be out of control drunk, but now it's the done thing and there's nobody in society - in any sort of position of credible respect - that says getting blootered is in any way bad.

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Drinking in Shetland is a bit of the culture. Its ingrained into us. I mind going south for uni and the people could not belive how much the Shetlanders drunk, same when they came up here. Orkney and the Western Isles are the same so must be somthing to do with island communities.

 

I personally see nothing wrong with the drinking culture as long as it does not get ahold of anyone that they become alchoholics and they dont break the law. I enjoy going out every weekend and haveing a drink. Most Shetlanders are only ever out then, the pubs are empty most of the week, so i guess we are all binge drinkers.

 

But most folk seem to start drinking around 15, me and most of my peers did and it did us no harm. Think any younger though is not right though as you should not be interested in drinking at that age, as you should not be interested in a lot of other things.

 

I agree that drinking is ingrained into the Shetland culture. And culture is a difficult thing to change. It takes an effort of will from many people with a vision of how life could be better. Me and my friends started drinking around age 15 too. And I love a drink. Unfortunately, drink has gone on to directly ruin the lives of several of my peers. And indirectly cause deaths through drunk driving, etc. Heavy drinking has to be one of the biggest problems in Shetland. But I don't think we can pin it on any particular age group.

 

In continental europe children are not banned from drinking, and might have some watered down wine along with adults with a meal. But adults show them a sensible attitude to alcohol, so the children are not waiting for the day they can sneek off and find out what it's like to get blootered like the adults.

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I agree that drinking is ingrained into the Shetland culture. And culture is a difficult thing to change. It takes an effort of will from many people with a vision of how life could be better. Me and my friends started drinking around age 15 too. And I love a drink. Unfortunately, drink has gone on to directly ruin the lives of several of my peers. And indirectly cause deaths through drunk driving, etc. Heavy drinking has to be one of the biggest problems in Shetland. But I don't think we can pin it on any particular age group.

 

In continental europe children are not banned from drinking, and might have some watered down wine along with adults with a meal. But adults show them a sensible attitude to alcohol, so the children are not waiting for the day they can sneek off and find out what it's like to get blootered like the adults.

 

Well put again, but I'm not sure its specifically a Shetland problem that we have developed ourselves. You must have seen the footage on the news where just about every English city is full of drunken fighting yobs every weekend. It seems to be quite a British thing.

 

Like most I started drinking around 13-15 and it was always with the sole intention of getting pissed. If we can't get adults out of that mindset then we stand absolutely no chance with the kids, they're always going to copy.

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junior wrote

Well put again, but I'm not sure its specifically a Shetland problem that we have developed ourselves. You must have seen the footage on the news where just about every English city is full of drunken fighting yobs every weekend. It seems to be quite a British thing.

 

I believe, and also hope, that the problem in Shetland with young drinkers is different to that in some English cities. With our kids it seems to be more like copying adults while down south there seems to be a cult of drinking (and drug taking) to shut out the misery of their lives. Which is very sad and holds out little hope for their future.

 

It is good to hear that the police are making efforts to control underage drinking and identify those who are prepared to buy drink for the kids. I wish them well with that.

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I'm just flabbergasted at dis story we da peerie boy o' 10 gettin foo an hae'in ta go tae GBH. Whit is this plice comin ta' when folk buy 10 year awlds drink? I mind when I wis underage I got drink bout fir me, but only when I wis at da very least 15+. I just hoop Whaever bout this 10 year awld drink is caught and locked up.

 

Although I don't think it is right that this man bought drink for underagers it should also be pointed out that chances are he didn't know some of it would be going to a ten year old. It could have been a 17 year-old relation that he bought it for that then gave/sold some on to the ten year old.

 

A lesson that I am sure many can learn from.

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Drink is easily got. Most houses do not put it under lock and key for a start. It is all down to parental responsibilty. Personally I would not over indulge if I thought my children would see me. However I think it is responsible to let them see me drinking wine with dinner or even the odd can in context. Hopefully children have respect for me that they will not help themselves to my drink and have been educated such that they know it is bad for them. In my experience its when they get to the rebellious age (15+) that they risk taking alcohol. All we can do as parents is to make them fully aware of the consequences before it is too late.

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This particular episode does not surprise me one bit. Shetland, more than most rural communities, seems to have a massive drinking problem.

 

The amount of underage drinking I know of is quite large, to the point where it is almost completely common place. People have pointed out that getting totally hammered has gone from being ridiculed at to being almost encouraged. I am not saying that if we have 16/17 yr olds drinking, we have a massive problem. That is the nature of teenagers, they always want to push it. However, when we're getting youngsters, like in this case, getting hammered (and it's def. not an isolated incident) we've got to tackle it because simply I can only see it getting worse.

 

How we do that is another issue. It is the responsibility of the parents not to supply their kids with drink first and foremost - only with changing attitudes is that going to happen.

 

Secondly, we need to introduce IDing at the doors and stricter policing of drunken behaviour. Seriously, I can't believe this isn't being done. I see so many 17 yr olds in the pub. I have never seen anyone in Shetland ever being asked for ID - aside from my 22 yr old brother in the ol' Cellar in the Toll Clock. It just seems that people don't want to tackle the problem, but want to appear to be doing so. For instance, the example above. Also, at 19, I got stopped in St. Olaf Street by a police car at around 8pm, with a crate of beer as I 'could've' been going to supply minors - what?! It wasn't like I was in the Wine Shop, with a bunch of 16/17 yr olds peering in the window, waiting for me to come out. I also got ID'd for my trouble. Meanwhile on various occasions, I've seen scuffles break out at the cross and the police just sit in their vans and do jack.

 

There just seems to be too much of a casual attitude towards drunken behaviour. "Oh, he's just blootered - that's all". I can safely say that during my times as a student, there is no way I could've gotten away with the stuff I see people do here - and bear in mind bar staff and police are slightly lenient with students. It really is a matter of acceptance of being drunk - and I think we need to get away from it or things will get worse. When I was south, you certainly could not smash glasses, pass out, fall asleep, fight or puke on the floor in a pub. You would be thrown out, physically. Here I would be confident that the worst case scenario, you would be 'asked to leave'. There's just too much tolerance as it's "just how things are" in Shetland.

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I fully agree with Mario on all his points.

 

Particularly the last point about the casual attitude. I've often wondered what exactly it would take to get thrown out of a Shetland pub short of sticking the head on someone. Only recently I witnessed a couple, the female being completely hammered to the point where she couldn't actually stand sitting in the Marlex, not once did any of the bar staff even suggest that she leave the pub. She then went on to vomit on the floor and again, not one member of the barstaff even spoke 2 words to her. It appeared to be a friend of hers that eventually twigged that she shouldn't be in there.

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I too agree with all you have to say Mario. I also think that south (or in the cities at least) folk are more conscious that they have to have their wits about them to get themselves home safely if they've had a lot to drink. In Shetland there seems to be an attitude that if you end up flakers in the corner of a pub or hall somewhere, somebody else will be there to pick you up and make sure you get home in one piece.

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